Latch mechanism



United States Patent Oflfice ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A door latchmechanism 4 Claims Background the invention US. Patent Number 2,987,336issued to C. F. Kramer disclosed a keeper device assembly comprising aheaded pin, a collar of compliant material concentrically mounted on thepin, and a tempered steel alloy split ring surrounding the compliantcollar to provide a wear resistant surface for the keeper deviceassembly and compressibility when the latter is engaged by a latchelement. The Kramer latch element comprised a pair of jaws adapted tograsp device assembly therebetween. The jaws were one side of a supportplate and were coupled to control plates on the opposite sides of thesupport plate. One of the control plates was engageable by a detentmeans to releasably hold the latter and thereby the jaw elements inkeeper device grasping position.

It is an object of the present invention to utilize the Kramer typekeeper device assembly with a simplified latch element.

Summary of the invention This invention relates to a door latchmechanism for latching a vehicle door structure to an adjacent vehiclevehicle body extending longitudinally of the vehicle body structure indoor structure closed position. The bifurcated latch element hassubstantially parallel leg portions one of which extends substantiallyradially of the pivot axis and the other of which is laterally off-settherefrom. The bifurcated latch element coacts with a keeper elementrigidlymounted on the other of the structures. The keeper element isengaged by the latch element between the leg portions of the latter. Adetent means releasably engageable with the laterally off-set legportion of the latch element holds the latter in door latched position.

Description of the drawing FIG. 1 is a perspective view of of a vehiclebody illustrating the the latch mechanism embodying the presentinvention;

. FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the latch mechanismillustrating the relationship of the latch elea fragmentary portionplacement thereon of device assembly;

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the latch mecha nism illustratingthe latch element in fully latched position 3,432,198 Patented Mar. 11,1969 in solid outline and in unlatched position in dot and dash outline;and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Description 0 the preferred embodiment having a passenger compartmentaccess opening adapted to be closed by a swinging door structure,generally designated 12.

Mounted on a body pillar panel 13 framing the body opening is a keeperdevice assembly 14. The keeper desupport plate 15 to which is The keeperdevice assembly 14 as above described is substantially the same as thatshown in Kramer US. Patent 2,987,336. The latch element 21, however,co-acting with the keeper device assembly 14 is substantially differentfrom that shown in the Kramer patent. The present latch element 21 is abifurcated element having substantially parallel leg portions 22 and 23.It is pivotally mounted on a gudgeon 24 journalled at one end 25 in asupport plate 26. The support plate 26 is mounted on the free edge doorstructure 12. The

The leg portion 22 of the latch element 21 extends substantiallyradially of the pivot axis defined by the The latch element 21 is urgedin unlatching direction by a spiral spring 33 coupled to the outer end25 of the gudgeon 24. The spiral spring 33 has a free end hooked over apin 34 projecting from the rear face of the support plate 26.

The housing 31 has an elongated slot 35 opening from the side wall 36and extending across the front face 37. The side wall 36 is notched at3'8 and the slot 35 is tapered slightly on the side wall 36 toward itsclosed end. The slot 35 receives the keeper device assembly 14 as the 19since the longia degree of com Referring now to FIG. 1, the vehicle doorstructure 12 is shown in a partially opened position. The latch element21 is in unlatched position as attested to by the fact that a portion ofthe upstanding leg portion 22 of the latch element 21 is visible throughthe slot in the casing 31. As the vehicle door is moved to a closedposition, the keeper device assembly 14 may be considered as enteringthe slot 35 where it is engaged by the leg portion 22. As the closingmovement of the door continues, a condition is reached as shown in FIG.2 in which the leg portion 23 of the latch element 21 becomes visiblethrough the slot 35 and begins to encompass the keeper device assembly14. In the final latched position shown in FIG. 3, the leg 23 of thelatch element 21 is in a substantially upright position in which it iscapable of preventing withdrawal of the keeper device assembly 14 fromthe slot 35.

The latch element 21 is held in latched position by a detent means,generally indicated 41. The detent means 41 is journalled on a gudgeon42 as was the latch element 21. That is, the gudgeon 42 extends throughaligned apertures in the support plate 26 and the housing front wall orface 37. The detent means 41 is urged toward the latch element 21 by aspiral spring 43. It will be noted that the detent means 41 at its freeend is provided with a stepped portion having a substantially verticallyextending abutment edge 44 and a horizontal abutment edge 45.

As the latch element 21 is swung from an unlatched toward a latchposition, the upper end of the arm 23 will abut the detent means 41 andurge the latter upwardly about end of the arm 23 of the latch element21. As soon as the latch element arm 23 slightly passes the abutmentedge 44 On the detent means the spring 43 will cause the latter to dropinto abutting relation to a curved or arcuate portion 46 on the upperend of the latch element arm 23. The horizontal abutment edge willoverlie the upper edge of the latch element 23. It will be obvious fromthe relationship of the parts as shown in FIG. 3 that, with the detentmeans in latch element 21 blocking position, the door cannot be pulledto an opened position since the keeper device assembly cannot bewithdrawn from the slot 35.

Before the vehicle door can be opened, it is necessary to lift thedetent means 41 out of abutting relation to the end of the latch elementarm 23. This can be done by rotating the gudgeon 42 in acounterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 3.

It will be understood that the gudgeon 42 may be operatively associatedwith a variety of conventional latch mechanism devices for providingrotation thereof upon actuation of the outer door handle mechanism 47 oran inner door mechanism (not shown).

Preferably, the curved pocket 49 between the legs 22 and 23 of the latchelement 21 in fully latched position of the vehicle door will also exerta slight upward pressure on the keeper device assembly thereby causingcompression of the sleeve 19 and the annular collar 18 against the upperedge of the slot 35 in the housing. This will assist in holding thevehicle door against vertical vibrations. It also will be noted that theenlarged head 17 of the pin 16 of the keeper device assembly 14 is of adiameter greater than the distance between the legs 22 and 23 of thelatch element 21. This provides the desired protection againstdisengagement of the keeper device assembly 14 from the latch element 21in a direction longitudinally of the vehicle body.

It will be understood that this invention is not to be limited to theexact construction shown and described, but that various changes andmodifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a door latch mechanism for latching a vehicle door structure to anadjacent vehicle body structure,

its pivot axis out of the path of the upper a support plate adapted tobe mounted on the vehicle door structure,

a housing on said support plate with the housing being laterallyslotted,

a cylindrical keeper element rigidly mounted on the body structure andadapted to project into said housing slot for movement therealong into adoor structure latch position,

a bifurcated latch element,

pivot means mounting said bifurcated latch element between said supportplate and said housing for swinging movement about an axis extendinglongitudinally of the vehicle body.

a detent means pivotally mounted on said support plate between thesupport plate and the housing for swinging movement about an axisparallelling the latch element axis,

said latch element having a short leg portion extend ing radially ofsaid latch element pivot axis and a longer leg portion laterally offsetfrom said latch element pivot axis,

said latch element leg portions being swingable between latch elementlatched and unlatched positions between the latch element pivot axis andthe detent means pivot axis,

said latch element in unlatched position being angularly inclined withits radially extending short leg portion projecting across the slot inposition to abut the keeper device upon movement of the door structuretoward closed position,

said longer leg portion passing beneath the keeper device and then uponengagement of the shorter leg portion with the keeper device being swungin a direction to project across the path of relative withdrawal of thekeeper device longitudnalnally of said slot,

said detent means having a part extending from the detent means pivotaxis and lying in the path of movement of the longer leg portion of thelatch element as the latter swings into keeper device withdrawalblocking position,

the longer leg portion upon being swung across the path of the keeperdevice momentarily abutting and diplacing the detent means and thelatter then dropping into the path of said laterally offset leg portionto prevent unlatching movement of said latch element.

2. In a door latch mechanism for latching a vehicle door structure to anadjacent vehicle body structure,

a bifurcated latch element having substantially parallel leg portions,

pivot means mounting said bifurcated element on one of said structuresfor swing movement about an axis extending longitudinally of the vehiclebody,

one of the leg portions extending substantially radially of said pivotaxis and the other of the leg portions being laterally offset therefrom,

said laterally offset leg portion having at its extremity a detent meansengageable portion,

a keeper element rigidly mounted on the other of said structures,

said keeper element in door latching position being engaged by saidlatch element between the leg portions of the latter,

and detent means having an abutment portion releasably engageable withthe detent means engageable portion of the extremity of the laterallyoffset leg portion of said latch element to hold the latter in doorlatched position,

pivot means pivotally mounting said detent means on the same structureas said latch element,

the laterally offset leg portion of said latch element being swingablein unlatching direction of the latch element between said detent meanspivot means and the latch element pivot means, said detent meansabutment portion when in engagement with said latch element detent meansengageable portion lying between said detent means and said latchelement extremity. 3. In a door latch mechanism according to claim 2, inwhich:

the extremity of the laterally offset leg portion abuts the detent meansand displaces the later in a direction away from the pivot means of thelatch element until fully latched position of the latch element isreached. 4. In a door latch in which:

mechanism according to claim 3 the latch element is coupled to a firstspring mean:

urging the latter toward unlatched position,

and the detent means is coupled to a second spring means urging thedetent means toward latch element engaging position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS RICHARD E. MOORE, PrimaryExaminer.

